Why aren't girls into gaming?

[Estrid]

Guys just assume I'm a guy anyway so it doesn't matter if I play male/female/unisex *anything* (name, avatar etc). Seriously, like 35-40% of all gamers are female anymore, I think it's the blanket assumption that we don't game that's the issue. Not our lack of presence.

white_salad, this is often the case.

Jursa, speak for yourself. ;3

I think the apart from that the biggest problem we face are the chicks who are all like "TEE HEEE I'M A GIRL! ~~~~ <3 <3 LIKE OHMAHGAWD..." So if you don't like the attention a.) stop announcing you're a chick, b.) don't giggle or suck it up if a guy is being an idiot (if you're in a FPS head shot + repetition. seriously, come on now) and c.) FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS BE THE BIMBO.

 

[Good morning blues]

I think there's more out there than most people think, but I also think that there's still a pretty huge divide, and that there are a few troubling reasons for it.

First, there's the multiplayer thing that this thread has already commented on over and over. Female gamers are subject to harassment when they play. It's disgusting, and it's why girls either don't play online games or hide their gender when doing so.

Second, there's the fact that almost all depictions of women in games are grossly offensive; they are unrealistic portrayals that assign women value based on degrading qualities (unlike the unrealistic super-masculine portrayals, which are ridiculously empowering; men in games are unstoppable superpowered dominant leaders, while females in games are sex objects, victims, followers, and eye candy). This doesn't bother some women, but saying that it doesn't turn a lot of women away is ridiculous.

Third, there's the overwhelmingly masculine characterization of the player characters. Something that I've noticed is that more women tend to play games in which the player character is less gendered. Lots of women play games like The Sims, where there is no gendering of the player character whatsoever, or like World of Warcraft, where it is possible to play a character that is more in line with their actual gender. Even games with female protagonists, like Tomb Raider and No One Lives Forever, feature player characters that are very masculine, even if they do happen to be female. I would suggest that you'll find a lot more women playing a less-gendered game like Half-Life than a more-gendered one like Serious Sam or Duke Nukem.

I think the apart from that the biggest problem we face are the chicks who are all like "TEE HEEE I'M A GIRL! ~~~~ <3 <3 LIKE OHMAHGAWD..." So if you don't like the attention a.) stop announcing you're a chick, b.) don't giggle or suck it up if a guy is being an idiot (if you're in a FPS head shot + repetition. seriously, come on now) and c.) FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS BE THE BIMBO.

If more than 5% of these people in games are actually female I will eat my hat

 

[nikomas1]

Seriously, are the whole gaming community retards... *sigh* did I even have to ask. I'm not really one of them but when someone's just not making sense I usually starts talking back at him. But more than less it seems my language is to civilized for online gaming. I mean most of the time those assholes tell me to learn English... Yep a lot of people live in the stone age these days.

*Idiot - lots of insults*
*Me - somewhere along the lines of "You know you need to find new insults, those aren't working"*
I usually win these cases, when the idiots especially tough I use my Cold and chilly voice, they usually shut up after that. aren't girls even better at that? Atleast from what I know. Girls can be scary! .

I for one think it would nice with more girls gaming, then maybe is some other dimension I'll finally meet someone with similar interests.

 

[Shellsh0cker]

Anyone else getting tired of saying girls? feels a little childish because by default it makes us little boys, when people are teens or older I think it's suitable to say women instead unless referring to a kid.

That bugs me a bit too. Males have this generalized term "guys," which can apply to anyone, regardless of age, but any female equivalent (chicks, gals) just seems derogatory, outdated, or both.

 

[Good morning blues]

Anyone else getting tired of saying girls? feels a little childish because by default it makes us little boys, when people are teens or older I think it's suitable to say women instead unless referring to a kid.

That bugs me a bit too. Males have this generalized term "guys," which can apply to anyone, regardless of age, but any female equivalent (chicks, gals) just seems derogatory, outdated, or both.

"Ladies," perhaps?

 

[Shellsh0cker]

Anyone else getting tired of saying girls? feels a little childish because by default it makes us little boys, when people are teens or older I think it's suitable to say women instead unless referring to a kid.

That bugs me a bit too. Males have this generalized term "guys," which can apply to anyone, regardless of age, but any female equivalent (chicks, gals) just seems derogatory, outdated, or both.

"Ladies," perhaps?

Perhaps, but it's not as widely used. Does seem like the best solution, unless we want to pull a "Frindle."

 

[Lizard Queen]

We are out there. I suspect many are hiding by accident since girls like me tend not to play openly online much, just network with friends or single player games.

We are still a minority though. Most of my friends are guys since they are the ones with similar interests. Mind you that could just mean I am a total geek (electronic games, roleplaying games, sci fi, zombie movies, comics like preacher etc.).

Some of you may have the right idea about only dating within the community. my last boyfriend was a lawyer and that didn't work out. Maybe I should try again with someone I can shoot monsters with.

 

[insectoid]

I'm a gaming girl.

I think the reason that less females play games is because they don't want to be seen as masculine, and video games are seen to be a 'masculine' pass-time (how you define something as 'masculine' or 'feminine' I'll never know).

I don't like how alot of girls that do play seem to think that their gender somehow automatically grants them special treatment. Especially if they announce to the whole community (or lobby) that they are female, just because they want to be noticed for it.

It especially ticks me off if said female players then go on a campaign for "equal gaming rights" for both women and men.

 

[Mariena]

Well most women aren't really into the whole headshot, cranial explosion, torture thing.

Bullshit! =P

Also, because I'm a girl: I liekz the sims!! TEEHEE! ^_^ those wittle sims are so kawaaaaaaaiiii ^^;; =('.')=

Oh god, no. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some more Eastern Europeans to hang in GTA4.

 

[jamesworkshop]

don't worry Hello Kitty MMO will be out soon so the internet will have tons more female gamers joining and apparently alot of middle age homosexuals as well.

 

[Arsen]

Because they get hounded back and forth....
By eh...guys like me.

 

[CmdrGoob]

Ah, but adding 'Ladies' to the end of things makes you sound like a creep, at least in Dimitri Martin jokes. /goes and watches Dimitri Martin vidoes.

 

[Unholykrumpet]

...I think this story pretty much sums it up.

So, my old girlfriend who rarely ever played games with me decided to give FPS console games a try, starting with Halo 3. We played through together and she had a blast, and really opened her mind to the idea of buying a 360 for herself. She wanted to play a match on live, and so I had a free one month laying around and I let her create a tag. I thought it prudent to warn her about creating a female sounding gamertag, but she was clever and created a really feminine gamertag...in latin! Something like "goddess of shadows and love", I believe it translated to. Step one complete, no problems so far.

She and I spend the next couple of days together playing team doubles and social slayer. She's having a great time. I leave to go get lunch, and I come back to find her completely frustrated. She decided to use my mic and play a team slayer game...ONE GAME, and she had two of her teammates sending her messages constantly asking for sex and calling her a whore. After that, she really didn't have much fun playing, so we just watched the Office instead. She refused to play online with me after that, and had no intention of buying a 360. She told me that "she didn't want to be in that environment if that's what people were like"...few immature guys completely ruined the experience for her.

 

[Radelaide]

Generally speaking, that is. I realize that there are some girls on here; but it seems that y'all are the exception to the rule. I'm just curious: Why is the female-to-male ratio amongst gamers so low?

Honey, this thread has been done to death. Generally speaking, the ratio of girl-to-guys is only a few percent off even. It's not actually that big of a difference.

 

[Aiden Rebirth]

My grandma and sister are huge gamers, not the most hard core, but they still rock out loud, so in our house hold of four, Its 2 female gamers to one male gamer, and one non gamer(who is also female.) so yeah not in my house. Also wasn't there a report a few days ago somewhere that female gamers make up like half of the overall market? it's bad to generalize off of old data/ common misconceptions.

 

[MissShortosity]

I was never 'hooked' into gaming by consoles such as the Atari 2600, namely because the Atari was around before my parents even MET. As a youngling, I was exposed to platformers such as Spyro and Crash Bandicoot, which while entertaining at the time, never really stretched beyond the attention threshold of an 8 year old...
I do recall the first time I accompanied my father to the mythical Games Wizard (which now no longer exists...) and ran, eager-eyed, to a demo of DOA2, which I instantly fell in love with (Could you blame me? I had been lead to believe that games consisted of nothing other than charging into pots and jumping on top of enemies and boxes to see how many apples I could collect...). I gleefully asked for nothing else but this game for Christmas, but of course, being a ten-year-old girl at the time denied me this joy. Instead, I was gifted supa-bust-a-move, which was unbelievably disappointing My brother, being 2 and a half years my junior, received games such as Army Men (Oh man, what could be better than melting a plastic army man with a flame thrower?), the entire battlefield and COD series and various other FPS's that I don't even remember for YEARS before I was ever allowed to touch such a game.
I don't know about other female gamers out there, but I think the perception that we shouldn't be exposed to violence in the form of video games is a big deterrent. Had my brother not have been a gamer, I doubt I would have extended beyond casual gaming.
That said, we still exist. Mind you, being repetitively team-killed by seven other pink-clad, pre-pubescent, achievement seeking dickheads who are seemingly magnetically drawn to my dead body to teabag while playing Halo 3 does get rather annoying... Apparently it's an insult when the only girl they've ever met over Xbox live fails to complement on how large their penis is...
I don't blame my fellow female gamers from hiding. I'm regretting choosing such a gender obvious tag...
But my very long winded point is that there are female gamers out there (and here...and well... everywhere!)

 

[crobuster]

I know at least one woman IRL that is into gaming in a big way and she never admits to being a girl in games or anywhere online. When I asked her about this she said that she'd rather just be another player or poster rather than a girl, I didn't think it would make much difference so prove her point we set up a few dummy accounts and spent a week or so playing as a girl.

I couldn't believe the amount of sexism and innuendo there was, it was horrific. I don't blame any woman for checking the male box as it's preferable to the kind of negative attention being a girl gamer apparently attracts.

 

[Theo Samaritan]

Have any female friends on Xbox live? I have a few they both mute most random people online because the bug them so much. I was playing with one of them on Uno, the children's card game, and she got hit on, and not like corny pick up lines, stuff like, "Baby lets meet up so i can f*** you, o my d*** is so big you'll love it!"

I'm going to repeat it, This was on UNO! it was pathetic. So, if I was to take a guess it would have to be for reasons pertaining to people like that guy.

THIS IS THE PROBLEM.

Even on the (generally) more adult PC gaming scene, every time a girl comes on you can guarantee there will be someone who has a dig at her. Luckily the girls I know don't take shit, but its a sad sight.

 

[poleboy]

Lots of reasons that support your argument as well as defeat it, but I think the main reason is that for a long time, games were anti-social. Since this is no longer the case (go Wii!), we're seeing more female gamers than we did before.

 

[kapzer]

The way I see it is that you know how everyone complains about the endless number of turds and children on xbox live? Exact reason why girl gamers don't boast that they're females. The most prominent (negatively) and outspoken members on games are males. There's male ego and psychology that determines that we must boast and whine about everything. I honestly believe that females have a better rationale. However, there are also a number of considerate male gamers out there that don't go "YO MOFO I JUST PIZZOWNED YOU" or something to that extent. I call them the ...rare.